(once again, sorry for the late review, had to take the laptop out behind the shed and put it down)

Another year, another Madden. At least this time around on the 360 its a lot more functional than last years fumble of an attempt. Thanks to the massive uproar of fans EA programmers pulled their heads out of their asses and decided that 360 users deserved somewhat of a full featured game with the inclusion of superstar mode sans fancy apartment found on the current gen games. MUch like a Mel Kiper Jr. sportscenter bit, lets get to the breakdown of Madden.

Visuals are stunning to say the least. Player movement is fluid and flawless and they act like their realworld counterparts. You wont see Reggie Bush bowl over a linebacker like Jamal Lewis would, but you will see his elusiveness in his trademark spin move and jukes. Player face models are excellent and player recognition is easy. Trademark taunts from Dante Culpeppers "rolling punches" to Lamont Jordan's "air guitar" have also been put in to give it that real world feel. Only problem i could find is the always present "dissappearing hair" bug with all the players that don the braids or mullet. Since this is always present it really shouldnt be seen as an issue.

Playability is right on par with other Madden games. The control scheme has been tweaked a little to incorprate the trigger buttons into gameplay. The right stick makes a return as the Superstar Stick where pulling in any direction will direct a certain special move in the player you are controlling on offense. On defense it returns as the hit stick same as last year. Passing and running are soild and dont fall victim to dumb AI too much however one major gripe i have stems from dumb offensive linemen. Often times on a blitz there will be no adjustment to pick up the rushing back and all too often i saw my linemen simply stand there and let theguy go right past them and plant my ass into the turf. This gets especially aggravating in superstar mode. The new lead blocker control option helps eleviate this some by allowing the player to play as either an OL or the lead fullback to put on blocks in front of your back(you can switch back to your RB by hitting the B button) but i often found myself not even using it that much. Some will find this new feature as innovating but for old-schooler like myself it just seems like added fluff.

Superstar Mode can be summed up like this, great idea just bad execution. The ability to play any position on the field besides the punter or the kicker (wtf?) is awesome but the camera system used during gameplay in this mode is completely broken. The camera is placed behind your player (think resident evil 4) and there is no way to turn it back to the normal skycam. This gives you the sort of claustrophobic feel that say a runningback or quarterback would have on the field but it leaves you with shit for a view on whats to your left and right and further down the field. Because of this an outside blitz will almost always blow you up and forget about rushing outside the tackels because of shoddy blocking (see above) and the inability to see whats to that side often leaves your player either just reaching the line of scrimage or losing yardage all together. You are almost forced to go inside all the time. The other positions suffer greatly from this too. Quick rundown: QB, cant see downfield. WR, not so bad but no guarantee the QB will ever throw you the ball. OL, fun for about five minutes then you are ready to retire. DL, only two moves to use on an OL and they dont even work that well, WTF? LB, fun for a little while but dont expect to be in on a lot of tackles due to the speed of the gameplay. DB, like playing battleship its all guesswork and most of the time you will just get burned.

Franchise Mode is reletively the same as it has been for the last few years. Nothing really new to write about here. Just play last years madden and you know all you need to.

Intangibles and oddities: The music fo rthis years game is once again a hodgepodge of hip hop and hardcore. which makes sense seeing as thats apparently whats in this year. Decent tracks but not much to write home about. There was something quite shocking i noticed in the game. No Madden. none, nowhere, not a single friggin "boom" anywhere. Now i do realise everyone bitched about his playcalling in the game for years (myself included) but now that he's not in it, im left kind of sad and lonely. I hate to admit it but i kinda miss the old guy, he's a hell of alot better then random AM radio voice guy thats in it now.

All in all a good effort from the folks AT EA but they still have some ground to cover to make this a truly hall of fame worthy game.

P.S. From one member of the raider nation to the man himself, congrats John for making the Hall, its been a long time coming.

(Apologies for the delay on this review, tech difficulties.)

Like moths to a flame, zombies head for the mall.

The mall walkers program will never be the same again.

What happens when you take Dawn of the Dead and throw in Mallrats? You get a game thats campy as hell but a hell of alot of fun to play. Is it a perfect start for next-gen zombie-hacking games, no but it at least shows that its pointed in the right direction. YOU play as a photo-journalist by the name of Frank West, who looks awfully like a Johnny Knoxville clone, who has 72 hours to solve the mystery of why everyone in a small town has seemed to turn into a zombie. In typical fashion, military action is in effect and the group of characters you interact with are a hodgpodge of Doctors and shadowy government agents. Cliche', yes, but its done in such a tongue in cheek campy way you laugh at the humor of it more then of the stupidity of it. The game works in sort of real-time as certain case files (read chapters) are given a time limit on their completion. Every case file solved leads to another clue in unraveling the greater mystery this town has to offer. While these case files are active you have the opton to also try to complete things called scoop clues which will lead to survivors to save and also more clues to the story.

Actual gameplay is relatively simple. Find a weapon, pick it up, crack a zombie skull, find anothe weapon, repeat as necessary. While some might find this mundane, its actually quite fun and interesting. I often found myslef not paying attention to time and just find as many differrent weapons to use on zombies as i could (current fav is the shower head). Coupled with the simple gameplay is an interesting rpg aspect of levleing up and learning new abilities as you earn more and more experience or as the game calls them, prestige points. Its an aspect that while adds depth its just not seen through properly due to a very goofy save system (crashing on the security office couch or finding a john to take a leak are the onle save spots) plus it almost follows a Diablo 2 aspect in its save feature where all your experience you earn is saved however if you saved and quit in the nmiddle of a case file, you have to start that case file over again. It's a bit frustrating but i can see that it was done more to boost replay value then just programmers being lazy. The ability to use almost every object as a weapon is genius and adds a ton of humor, however they made Frank an unassuming muscle bound freak in so much that he can swing and chuck a park bench as easily as he can a baseball bat. I can easily ignore this simply because you can kill a zombie by chucking cd's in an almost obvious Shaun of the Dead homage (yes i know they threw records, thats why i said almost).

Bottom line, kids, its not perfect but its fun enough to play whenever you feel like crackin skulls with due prejudice. Its mindless fun but its a hell of alot of mindless fun.

3.5 Chris Redfield S.T.A.R's out of 5

Dig it: plenty of zombies to wack, chainsaw store next to a jewlery store,
high replay value especialy once 72 hour mode is completed.

Shove it: wack save system, camera mini-games tad bit annoying,
survivors dont listen to orders very well

Missing: 100 zombies on screen at once is awesome but they all look like
100 zombies with xbox-level movement, we want next-gen already!

Ok, first let me start off by saying if your not a fan of the Clone Wars cartoon you will, more than likely, not like this game. I however, am a fan, so with that, it does a pretty good job with that aspect of the game. Supposely, it takes place between season 1 and 2 of the series. The story is pretty decent, and the ability to play so many different characters is also a plus. It basically like a Mario or Sonic style of game play. Depending on the mission, you either wield a lightsaber and utilize the power of the force or play as a clone trooper an use an assortment of guns and grenades, with the occasional rocket launcher and mini gun. Basically you run around, hacking and slashing, jumping on droids, collecting force points and kills. I love playing as a clone trooper, because it has that type of shooting like on the Slash TV game. The right analog stick controls the direction you shoot. However the biggest frustration has to be when it comes to the jedi jumping nuances on many of the levels. Like jumping from pole to pole only to die over and over and over again, because the target to land on is so small. Especially when trying to jump on a STAP. It is co-op, but I have nobody to play with here, so I won't delve into that area. There are little mini challenges where you can destroy waves of droids after passing certian areas during a time limit, but I really don't see the point of it. Other than trying to beat your buddy during it maybe. When you play as a jedi you can jump on top of the droid and "droid jack" them, which allows you to control them for a short time to say shoot other droids or get pass an objective. You can use the points you collect to purchase combat upgrades, droid jack dances or big bobble type heads. If you like running around with a big Yoda head, this could be a perk. If you have kids, I recommend it for them, since it seems more geared to them. Although the graphics aren't great they do stay true to the cartoon. If you like Clone Wars, then go rent it and have fun. You can probably breeze through it in a day or two. I thought is was fun action-aventure game but maybe not worth the $50 I spent on it. I give it a 1 thumb up, or a 3 out of 5, or a 6 out of 10, depending on the scoring system you like.

My next 6 games: Resident Evil 5, GOW 2, Fable 2, Fallout 3, 2 Human & Saints Row 2. Sequelishous

Well have been on this site for a while so I thought I would start off by reviewing a game I recently played, Bullet Witch.


The game starts off with a really weird story that makes absolutely no sense , not even through the 5 times I played it.
Anyway, you start off with these really lameass guns that are crap. You have to upgrade them after every level. I started playing the game on hard which was cheesy all I had to do was stay really far away from the AI. AI in this game is exactly what it means "Artificial Intelligence". These things are dumber than a bag of shit, not to mention they dont change the level of difficulty for the AI with the level of difficulty you are playing. They just make the damage inflicted greater. I must say whoever made this game must have been low on cash or really fuckin bored or just wanted to make someone play through a retarded game 5 times.

The upgrades are not even upgrades they just give you more crappy bullets to shoot more bags of shit with. I cant believe I played this game so many times. I figured if I beat it once I better beat it several more times. The bosses are retarded they arent even bossess. The main boss, omg, he takes 20-30min to beat every time ,from easy to insane mode. I must have played the game well over 20 hrs and didnt get the 15 hr achievement which is shit.

Bottom line: DONT BUY THIS GAME. RENT IT OR BUY IT FOR A PENNY!. THIS GAME SUX

This is the first review I've ever done for anything so bear with me. I finally found something worth reviewing and wanted to share it with the rest of you.

The 360 has a lot of great games so sometimes it's hard to play them all. This means that sometimes a classic game can slip through the cracks. Condemned: Criminal Origins (CCO) is one of these games. This is one of the best games on the 360 and one of the finest in the survival horror genre yet very few on my friend list have played it. So I'm going to do the best I can to promote this game here.

CCO was a launch title on the 360 and along with COD2 and Fight Night 3 is one of the few to stand the test of time.
CCO is a single player survival horror game. It is played in the the first person perspective.

You play as FBI agent Ethan Thomas. Thomas seems to have "a gift" for catching sickos. As an agent whose job is to catch serial killers, you are one of the best in the bureau but lately all of your cases have gone cold. Add to that the fact that crime in the city is far higher and more violent than ever.

The game starts as you are called in by local P.D. to a crime scene that seems to be the work of one of the suspects whose case you are working on named The Matchmaker. This psycho likes to kill young women and then pose them in "scenes" with department store mannequins. While investigating the scene, you discover that the killer is still in the building. So the search begins. I won't go further into the plot so I don't ruin it for anybody who wants to play this game.

The game play takes place in two aspects - investigation and fighting. Investigation comes in two forms. The first is simply finding things in the game (birds, metal pieces, Xbox 360s) that uncover more of the plot at the end of the game. The second is using your forensic tools. There are places in the game where you can use these tools to gather evidence that you relay to your trusty sidekick, Rosa, electronically. I can't explain how that works exactly so don't ask. Anyway, Rosa gets the info and gets the results almost instantly. These can be things such as DNA or fingerprints, etc.

The fighting is the other aspect of the game. This game is a first person melee game. Yes, there are guns to be found. They come with a catch. No extra ammo. However many bullets are in the clips is how many shots you get. As much as I have played this game, I have yet to actually use a gun. I still need that achievement though so maybe next time. lol. The reason I don't use the guns is because of the melee. Anything you can grab, you can hit somebody with. This includes shovels, locker doors, signs, gas pipes, 2x4s with nails sticking out, rebar, etc. You also have a kick move and a taser. The taser is a lifesaver! You can stun an enemy and take his weapon to hit / shoot him with while he is still stunned. The taser recharges after each use so you just can't go with a rapid fire technique. My personal favorite weapons are the fire axe, fireplace poker and the classic paper cutter handle. It's also fun to grab a shotgun and smack somebody with the butt of it until it shatters and splinters across their head. Gaming at it's finest! Finally, you are armed with finishing moves. If you hurt an enemy bad enough, you are given the option to really F somebody up. These include snapping their neck or head butting them among other things. Good times indeed.

On to the levels. There are ten levels in this game, each taking about an hour. I guess they could take less but this is no run and gun game play. My advice is to proceed with caution. The levels are designed to be linear, dark and claustrophobic. This was achieved with perfection. This game doesn't need multiple paths. It just wouldn't work here. The thrill is knowing you need to move forward even though enemies lurk around every corner. Speaking of enemies, they are well-designed and freaky looking. They all are bloodthirsty and aggressive. If you knock a weapon out of one of their hands, they will frantically try to find something else to hurt you with. They will also retreat around a corner and try to ambush you. If all else fails, they will lunge at you and try to grab you. Much of this game is very memorable. The department store level is eerie. The burned down library is chilling. Then there is the school. The pool followed by the locker room area is just downright disturbing. The scripted moments are equally unforgettable. The end of the first level. This is where the demo ended and made me buy the game. The locker. Wow. The school kitchen with the meat cleaver. Classic. The numerous flashbacks. Frightening.

Let me just say that I'm a big horror fanatic (if you couldn't tell). I love horror movies and survival horror games. They don't really scare much. CCO is scarier than any movie. The only thing this scary was the game The Thing on the original Xbox. The best way to play this game is alone, in the dark, with the surround sound cranked up and a pair of depends on. Let me give you an example. On my third play through, I was playing the department store level. It felt good outside so I had my windows open. The wind was blowing pretty good causing the chord on my blinds to tap against the window. This was literally freaking me out. I had to turn the game off and watch Family Guy and other funny stuff for almost 2 hours to even feel right again. Not to mention, closing my windows. lol. And that was on my THIRD play through! 'Nuff said.

I'm long-winded so I'll try to wrap this up. This game has the best atmosphere of any game on the 360. Period. IMO, it's the most overlooked and underrated game on the system along with The Club. It's probably one of the ten best games on the 360. It is a classic in the survival horror genre along with games like The Thing, Silent Hill 2, Eternal Darkness and the Resident Evil franchise. This game is kind of old now so you can buy it cheap. So go buy it. The next game I'm buying will be Condemned 2: Bloodshot (how'd you know?).

GRAPHICS: 8/10 - The animation is smooth. The levels are dark and dirty. The enemies are disgusting and evil-looking. The one negative is that everything seems to have a shiny coating on it.

SOUND: 10/10 - A surround sound masterpiece. Very scary sound effects that will creep you out in certain levels. The sounds the the melee objects make on contact are brutal and bone-jarring. The voice acting is not spectacular but it is solid.

STORY / ATMOSPHERE 10/10 - The best atmosphere in a 360 game period. The story is not on a level with Mass Effect or Bioshock but it is on the next level. Some good plot twists to be found.

CONTROLS: 7/10 - This is a double-edge sword. The game controls nicely. Sometimes though, it doesn't seem responsive enough. This is done on purpose though to add to the atmosphere. If I'm surrounded by enemies and I swing a sledgehammer, Thomas has to regain his balance to swing at next enemy. This leads to a lot of moments of me yelling "swing, swing SWING!" at my tv. It's realistic though. It's not like you can rapid fire a sledgehammer. lol.

FUN: 10/10 - Fun melee, investigation scenes, the best atmosphere, good story pacing.

OVERALL: 9.5/10 - What more can I say? Go play this game!

After about 4 hrs playing this, I can say I definately like it. (I really didn't need 4 hrs, that's just how long I played it.)

The moment I put the disc in, and G'n'R started to play, I knew this would be a good game. Definately better than the demo.

Although some of my favorite racing types have been dropped, somehow they made up for it. You would think, with it being a 'free-roaming' style game, that it would be slow. Long periods of driving around between races. Not so. It is surprisingly fast paced, I rarely go more than a minute between races. Speaking of races, here's a breakdown of the race modes......

Race: This is your standard point A to point B race. Takedown your opponents to gain boost. No exploding cars, or trying to control your crash to wipeout the others. This is fast-paced, seat of your pants, balls out racing. Nothing to slow the action here.

Road Rage: Speed around town, ducking traffic, and trying to takedown X number of cars before time runs out. Again, no exploding cars or crash cams, it's all action.

Marked Man: This is the new race mode. Your objective is to get from point A to B without getting totalled. You will have several cars chasing you, trying to take you out. After a few failed first attempts, I really got into this. The trick is to use a large, agressive car, and get them before they get you.

Stunt Run: Haven't done this outside of the demo. Race around hitting ramps and doing stunts untill time runs out. Must beat a certain score to win. This really isn't something I'm interested in, but I'll bet it's where all the online action will be.

Burning Route: This one is a little different than the previous game. Each car is designated one burning route course. You can only race that course with that specific car. If you beat it, your car is upgraded.

During a race, you may come across an opponent that revs his engine at you. If you can take him out, AND win the race, he will be driving around town looking for you while you are 'free-roaming'. If you see him driving around, take him down. Once his car is wrecked, you can go pick it up at the junkyard.

While you are driving around, whether it's 'free-roaming' or racing, you will come across junkyards, repair shops, gas stations, and paint shops. Use them during races to repair your car, and re-fill the boost. It's also important to memorize the streets, I've lost many races because I turned on the wrong street.

The music is just incredible. I don't remember the last time I played a game where I just wanted to sit and listen to the music. GTA:Vice City, maybe. So many good bands in here, and a few I've never heard, but now I want to go buy thier albums!

The achievements are, well, achieveable. Big difference from the last game. They are also entertaining. How would you feel when you upgrade your license, and at the bottom of the screen it says: "Achievement Unlocked - Keep Trying"

The goal, of course is to get your rank to Elite status. You advance by winning X number of races. Once you advance, you race history is cleared, and you can race those same events again to rank up.

I haven't tried the online play yet, probably get to it this weekend. Why don't you guys and girls pick it up and we can all try online together?

yesterday i bought the simpsons game,i am a big fan of the show and have been looking forward to this



and yes,i have finished it(but not collected all the crap throughout the levels)..i got 62% done



so,you play as bart,homer,lisa,marge and occasionally,maggie

you get to choose between 2 players at a time,using the D-pad...at first you only have access to homer and bart,but then you unlock lisa and then marge(who has maggie with her)

the game is a sandbox spingfield,and you enter buildings and such to go into each level,so if you dont want to go to the level just yet,you can explore springfield ,to collect cards and just have a mosey about at the places made famous from the cartoon,the places are all here,evergreen terrace,the school,krusty burger,..and so on and so on

so,the main story is that the family find out that they have video game powers,bart can become bartman and hover or climb,homer can become his dream and be a big round ball,lisa has her saxamophone to stun enemies,and she can also use the hand of buddha to flick enemies and move obstacles...and marge can attract crowds and have them fight for her,as well as having maggie with her who can crawl into little spaces and access places the other four cant.....and soon enough springfield is attacked by kudos and kang,and the family realise they are video game characters,and see professor frink about how to cheat(he has 'the simpsons game' strategy guide)


there are also some mini-games that come into play,usually mini games of old games,like Gauntlet or space invaders



all your favourite characters are here...and i mean everyone

the levels are good,some frustrating...but because it adds the simpsons it doesnt make it too bad,levels are sometimes rehashes of old episodes(attack of the dolphins,lard boy)or even poking fun at other video games,medal of homer,everquest or grand theft scratchy

the medal of homer level was pretty funny,you had to get all the white flags of the french




the controls ...somewhat crap really,the camera has a life of its own at times,and really gets annoying...and as i have no patience whatsoever....swearing was inevitable...you use the Y button to activate buttons and levers,right trigger for your characters ability,and the usual A for jumping,B and X for shooting and fighting

graphics....graphics are much better than previous simpsons games,although this is the first simpsons game on this gen consoles,you can see rough edges a lot,but most time you wont notice it...the cutscenes are exactly like the cartoon,and there is no difference,it feels like you are watching the show...all the voices are here,from everyone,just passing them on the street to watching the cutscenes


gameplay-well,nothing really is new here,as you are reminded by comic book guy every now and again.levers,pressure pads,buttons....its all here,and has been done a thousand times



problems-apart from doing nothing new and getting frustrating at times,it gets pretty boring,in fact if it wasnt a simpsons game and it didnt have the humour and the cutscenes and oneliners,i think i would of stopped playing a while ago...as said the camera at points totally ruins the game,and the tedious reaching higher levels to switch a lever,is fucking boring as watching dog shit dry...and even worse when you are trying for the tricky jump and dozens,and dozens of enemies keep attacking you

no online play,only co-op..not online co-op..a player can jump in and out of your game,and it goes split screen(vertically) when that happens,but only during levels can someone join,not when exploring springfield

another problem is also when you get a character to a high place,and you switch characters to do part of the puzzle,the first character jumps down,and therfor loses all your effort of getting him to that high place

also,apart from the levels,you have time trials,to see if you can do the level faster...or collecting stuff from doing the levels again or searching springfield.....not what you would say exciting....i finished the game with 7hrs 26mins on the clock..and i cant really say that i am thinking of going back to get the collectables,and the famous places from the cartoon arent very exciting or much to do ...so,you could say that £40/$60...isnt justified IMO

a so-so game that has very few original stuff that only really gets me playing because of the simpsons license


good points

simpsons humour is great
varied levels
mini games
all your favourite characters
totally pokes fun at its self,and the video game industry
graphics are decent for in game

bad points

camera is some times non existent
annoying jumps
does nothing new
collecting stuff and time trials are crap
no online play....only offline co-op
leaderboards.....<<<why??


it gets a 7 metal orphans out of 10.

so,the orange box has had some of the best review scores since...well,since last month,lol

lets get things straight first of all,in this package you get

Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2:episode 1
Half-Life 2:episode 2
Portal
Team Fortress 2


before i begin this little review,let me tell you that i will not be mentioning HL2ep1 and 2...as i havent got up to them yet,all i can tell you is that if you have already played through half life 2 on either the PC or even the xbox 1 version,then you can jump straight to episode 1 or 2,you dont have to go through the whole thing again

okay,lets start

half life 2...wait....lets start at the beginning,last week i played a PS2 copy of half life 1,on my PS3(thankyou 60gig backwards compatible)...and yes i finished it,even though really,the story was lacking.....but anyway,you play Gordon Freeman,a scientist who works at a black mesa lab in new mexico,after an experiment goes wrong,you...yes you,unwittingly,let another dimensions creatures into our world,and for the rest of the game you have to shoot and smash your way through the black mesa lab base...to your freedom,along the way you come across enemies as the alien wierdos from the other dimension and even black mesa soldiers,who have been ordered to kill anyone on site,even you...as you wade through all the levels,there is one man who keeps popping up,but you cant interact with him,he looks a lot like cancerman from the x-files,and has the same reputation really..well,mysterious...at the end of the game******spoiler coming up***>>he gives you a choice,to work with him,as you dont really know anything about him,he still has better odds than if you didnt choose to work with him(trust me,i tried both endings)....and thats more or less how HL1 ends



so,okay,lets really start

Half-Life 2

half-life 2 begins on a train with G-man talking too you,it seems that the planet has been taken over by the 'aliens'


and you have been transported to city 17 the few human cities left governed by the black mesa,with alien tripods walking in the background just like war of the worlds


so you have to first escape from there meet up with scientists from the first game and plan your attack okay,first off the graphics are a great improvement to the xbox 1 version,if you ever played that,most faces are all mapped on,so they look like real people and when people are talking in front of you or on giant video screens,their lips move in synch,water physics are a lot better as well,and also detail like rust on the metal drums or stains or bullet holes in windows are a great touch

controls-they are a lot better than half life 1,but the way you pick things up(they float in the air in front of you)makes the game feel very much like a PC game,not that that can be a bad thing,and the sprint button isnt in the best of places(LB)but all the controls and buttons can be moved about to where you want them

gameplay-although for most of the game it has you walking/running through the normal mazes of the city and backstreets,you never seem to get lost,you always seem to go the right way,and if you do come across a puzzzle of sorts,it usually clicks with you afer a few....there are a lot of loading screens inbetween the running and the walking,these come every few minutes,especially if you are running everywhere,they last for about 10-20 seconds..so it can get a bit annoying that the whole level cant be loaded at the beginning,but its something you have to put up with

if anyone played DEUS EX on the xbox will know what to expect,this feels like the exact game(or a sequel),but without the pointless running back and forth completeing favoursit isnt just walking or running,but you also get airboats and buggy's to go about in(thats all i have seen up to now)


there are rumours that Half- Life 2:episode 3 will be downloadable soon from xbox live marketplace,before the typical 3-4 year wait for Half-life 3(hopefully it will be sooner)

there is a cool part later in the game when you get to control the Antilons(the wierd creatures at the botom of this picture)

they become like your bitches,and you can make them attack all the black mesa soldiers(in the same picture )

so,any bad points
apart from the loading screens cropping up while playing....well,again your character says jack shit,it just doesnt seem natural,he meets a lot of new friends and also some old ones pop up,who are very excited to see him yet Gordon doesnt say anything...and their reply is,'oh you're a bit quiet,eh?'....i hate that,would it of hurt to give GF a voice,anything just saying hello would do

repeditve-some mazes(and i am talking sewers or viaducts etc)can be the same thing over and over,find a way out,turn a valve,kill some cops,swim under a gate in the water...repeat,only through the vehicles are the on foot parts not totally boring,but then after just playing through the air boat levels,i felt as that had outstayed its welcome by the end at the moment,its always the same weather etc...i could do with a change of weather to enhance the scene....maybe then the on foot parts wouldnt feel as the same as the earlier on foot parts,i am hoping that some weather changes happen later in the game,i have already played through a night level


but,despite all that,i am enjoying it,will it last until the end?,or will i get bored and go towards something else?...only time will tell,but for now i am gonna give it 8and a half metal orphans out of 10


Portal

so,what are you expecting with this title?...i think everything that happens in this game is exactly how i pictured it was going to happen...in other words,it does what it says on the tin......not much of a story,you are imprisoned and forced to do a series of mind numbing puzzles with your portal gun....the only little explaination to your situation has been known that you came to the company when it was a 'bring your daughter to work day'(yes you are a woman)...and things happened around then






you must know what this is all about really,you enter a room and you have to exit it,only there are situations that make the latter quite hard,but with the help of your portal gun,you can create exits.....press RT to create a portal,and later on in the game you get it upgraded,where you press LT for one part of a portal and RT for the other half(another enter and exit if you like),there are puzzles that look very hard at first but you will be very satisfied when you come across the answer and do it....

for instance,a locked room has a big button on the floor that when pressed opens an exit...in the other room you and a cube await,the cube is needed to hold the button down...at first things are very easy....later on
they can get downright annoying



the computer generated voice that accompanies you does show a lot of interesting sides to the 'voice'.....slightly going mad...she sometimes tells you that the current room you are in,is impossible to complete and you should just give up
the game can be finished in about 3 hrs,maybe a few more if you want to go through some of the same rooms but harder difficulties,for the achievements...but still,its good to play,and good to have in the box

8 metal orphans out of 10#



EDIT:apparently its not the black mesa soldiers this time,its the Combine,super soldiers from the other dimension,i must of missed that explaination

if any of you played PGR3,did you like it?...for me,i just didnt get into it,i think i must of spent all of an hour or two playing the game at the very most....yesterday,it was finally traded in,ironically(or is that coincidential)it was for PGR4


(these are all pictures i have taken from inside the game)


project gotham racing 4,takes everything from number 3,and improves it 100%,the races are more fun,cone challenges,which were a drag in number 3 have been a little reduced,and therfor i have only come up against one cone attack race in the 2-3 hrs i have been playing and that was to see how many i can hit in a set time....but what this game rally focus's on is racing,whether its against 3 others or 7 others...or whether you are trying to beat their hotlap so to place you higher on the grid for the next days proper race...its all a far cry from PGR3..in fact,it feels like a whole new ball game...or car game,but still has that PGR stamp over it,kudos are still there,but again more of a 'if you want to' thing,get more kudos though and you can spend them at the PGR shop..everything from suits,helmets,cars or even tracks

this time around,it isnt just cars that are racing,now,you get motorbikes,which at first felt very wobbily,but after 1 or 2 races,it feels very much like you are cheating when using a bike(other drivers are in cars,sometimes you will get the odd other biker),overtaking is so very much easier on a bike,and also gives you that 'i'm a cool bastard' feeling when squeezing past through a gap...and also,you will find that your biker when overtaking shows off(or you can do it yourself)


there are options for either arcade,where you have 10 types of racing,which you can win 5 medals from each,or then there is the career mode,which is the meat of the game where you travel the world,Asia tracks,North American tracks or European tracks(could be more,not sure)unlocking each as you progress up the career ladder..time attack,that to be honest i wont be touching,and online racing


PGR4 also now has weather effects,calm,drizzled,pissing bricks,foggy or even snow,giving it that extra realistic look,cant say i have noticed a big difference when driving though when its raining,i was expecting to be sliding all over the show...but maybe the tracks i have driven havent challenged me in that department yet...as for snow,i havent driven a snow track yet,but very much looking forward to it....and whatever was said a few months ago about Bizzare not being able to fit the night time tracks on the DVD...well,they're here as well

graphics,look great,the cars look good(all cars in most games from the outside look so-so i think,same with forza/GT),in car look is pretty darn fab,especially when in the driving rain seeing it bounce of the windshield,the locations are what you would expect from this,if you played number 3,you know that they can look great,but now you have night time locations
bundled with various weather aspects,so you get that shiney wet look as well



handling,well,as i said at first on the bike it felt very wobbily,but after a race or two i was really enjoying it,once you get used to the braking around corners or drifting for that matter,you will be loving it...same with the cars,although i havent quite got to grips with drifting yet(you drift by pressing the A button while going round corners,and you get more kudos that way)

as with Halo 3,you can look through your race and take pictures or save videos,and upload them to www.pgrnations.com the pictures you see,are of me(see the union jack)...i love this feature,i loved it on halo 3...and i hope to see it in future games

anything bad?

well,the menus can be a bit shit,sidescrolling to one option to get to another option...should just list them if you like your car games/races then you will love this....like PGR3,you'll love this...hated PGR3..so did i,and i love this

online i havent checked out,i dont usually do car games online,but you can play up to 7 other players with ranked matches or just for fun matches,the online part of the game uses microsofts elusive Trueskill rank(that i last saw in COD2,and it was in COD4 as well)


this picture below is an interesting one,bottom right is the bike,top leftish is the biker...i am in the blueish ford car,and i just rammed the living hell out of all of these,therfor making the biker fall...hee hee



there is car damage,i have seen windows smash on the other cars when i rammed them,and also my car has had its fair share of scratches along the sides of the car,but here is nothing major,no dents etc

so,if you like your driving games,you should get this,more of an arcadey feel but still a great racer

9 metal orphans out of 10

i gotta admit,this startled me when it said last post was november 2006

we have had some great games since then

crackdown,lost planet,halo 3,overlord,Forza 2,Bioshock to name a few

and it would be great to hear some of your reviews on the games...i myself am guilty as well,the next new game i buy,which prolly will be half-life 2 (PGR4 i will get some other day)..i will have to remember to put up a review on it here,or add to someone elses review